Gerard Reve
The most widely read book by Gerard Reve (1923-2006) remains his debut 'De Avonden' (The Evenings, 1947), but the controversial, epistolary novels 'Op weg naar het einde' (On My Way to the End, 1963) and 'Nader tot U' (Nearer to Thee, 1966), with their frank discussion of homosexuality and the author’s conversion to Catholicism, were instrumental in establishing Gerard Reve as a public figure in the Netherlands.
Over the years he published a large series of autobiographical epistolary books, and several novels: Oud en eenzaam (Old and Lonely, 1978), Moeder en Zoon (Mother and Son, 1980), Bezorgde Ouders (Parents Worry, 1989). Reve was awarded the P.C. Hooft Prize in 1968 and the Dutch Literature Prize (Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren) in 2001.
More Gerard Reve
The Evenings
On 1 November 1947, Gerard Reve published what was to become one of the classics of Dutch literature. Set during the last ten dark days of 1946, the story revolves around Frits van Egters, a young man who lives at home with his parents, whom he finds annoying and embarrassing. He avoids them by visiting friends, whom he provokes and challenges, and by withdrawing into his bedroom, where he finds comfort with his favourite cuddly toy, a rabbit to which he devotes near-erotic attention.
Two novellas
No author from the Netherlands has influenced later generations so profoundly as Gerard Reve – the marriage of eloquence and everyday banality is central to his style of writing. Before the publication of his debut novel 'De Avonden', Reve wrote two impressive novellas.
On My Way to the End
In the 1960s Gerard Reve’s career entered a new phase when he discovered that the letter was his ideal literary form. It allowed him to adopt a direct, confrontational tone, combined with formal, almost solemn, syntax and vocabulary. Reve wrote openly and in great detail about his alcoholism, his homosexuality, his preoccupation with death and his adoration of God and the Virgin Mary. As the main character of his letters, he described his life with remarkable candour, contributing to his own legend in the process. In a 1998 interview he said, ‘I’m a Great Writer, but it’s not as if I’m not stuck up about it.’